Critique this rig

[Lyfer]

Nephew needs a rig, his daddy knows nothing about computers, I told him ~$1.3K will make a good rig (hey if I'mma build it, might as well be a good rig). He loves BF2 and BF1942 (plays it at my house all the time), so I'm going with a very beefy video card.

So far I've got the following parts:

EVGA SLI Motherboard (comes free with the video card)
Athlon 64 3200 OEM (CPU and Fan are from ewiz, saves me $50 compared to newegg)
Coolermaster Heatsink with 80MM FAN
1gb Corsair Valueselect DDR400
EVGA Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR
Maxtor 200GB SATA 16mb cache
Nec black 16xDVD-RW
Nec black floppy
Chenming midtower case
Fortron AX450 450W PSU w/12CM fan (has dual 18A 12v+ rails)
microsoft black keyboard/mice combo

Rig total = $976 (final shipping price, $936 if you count the Evga $40 MIR )

This leaves me with roughly $324 for a monitor and printer. I was thinking on a KDS 19inch which does 1600x1200@75hz for $99 at walmart (monitor I use) and $150 on a good HP laserJet (inkjets suck for heavy printing duties). Are there any good 17" LCD's that will fit the budget AND the 7800GT GPU?


THoughts?

 

[Hacp]

GOod.

 

[Bona Fide]

AG Neovo has a nice 17" 12ms LCD for $212 at Newegg.

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
AG Neovo has a nice 17" 12ms LCD for $212 at Newegg.

The 7800GT loves high resolution, can that LCD go higher than 16x12?

 

[Hacp]

17 inchers can't go higher than 1280/1024

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: Hacp
17 inchers can't go higher than 1280/1024

I guess an LCD is clearly out of the equation unless I can find away to explain to his dad why his LCD cost more than his rig..

 

[raildogg]

if I had to build a rig for that budget, I would pick almost the same parts, maybe with the exception of the heatsink and fan. and i might also get a Western Digital or something else. but Maxtors seem to be among the fastest 7200rpm hard drives.

 

[BigfootsMonk]

haha

but is that computer going to be used for college? You might still want to consider an LCD for space issues.

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: BigfootsMonk
haha

but is that computer going to be used for college? You might still want to consider an LCD for space issues.

LOL, college, he's only 16 . He LOVES BF2, thats why I'm the cool uncle who's gonna get him a nice 7800GT, what kinda person would I be if I let his dad get one of those crappy HP all-in-one from office depot.

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: Lyfer

Originally posted by: BigfootsMonk
haha

but is that computer going to be used for college? You might still want to consider an LCD for space issues.

LOL, college, he's only 16 . He LOVES BF2, thats why I'm the cool uncle who's gonna get him a nice 7800GT, what kinda person would I be if I let his dad get one of those crappy HP all-in-one from office depot.

You're building him a rig and you think you're cool? Common no one who knows how to build a comp is cool

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: mOeeOm

Originally posted by: Lyfer

Originally posted by: BigfootsMonk
haha

but is that computer going to be used for college? You might still want to consider an LCD for space issues.

LOL, college, he's only 16 . He LOVES BF2, thats why I'm the cool uncle who's gonna get him a nice 7800GT, what kinda person would I be if I let his dad get one of those crappy HP all-in-one from office depot.

You're building him a rig and you think you're cool? Common no one who knows how to build a comp is cool

You forget, computers are 'cool' now.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

you're not cool if you don't know anything about computers.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Looks good except you might want want to consider putting 2gb ram into the machine. Especially if he loves bf2.

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: CheesePoofs
Looks good except you might want want to consider putting 2gb ram into the machine. Especially if he loves bf2.

QFT!

Also, go with CRT if you're worried about resolutions.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

noooo a maxtor, please consider a seagate/wd. how bout switching to a benq dw1640.

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
noooo a maxtor, please consider a seagate/wd. how bout switching to a benq dw1640.

Never heard much of benq, I've used nothing but NEC and they work reliabily. I decided to go with the maxtor over the seagate 160gb because for $7 more you get 40gb + 16mb cache. Though I love seagates reliablity and long 5 year warranty, the maxtor's I've used work as good.

 

[chrisrod01]

Perfect Build. I would just change the monitor you have in mind and go with a Seagate HD come on 5 year warranty to hard to rufuse

 

[shoRunner]

i'd also go with the benq, read anandtech's recent review, and i'd go with a cannon ip4000, then u can print photo's also and ink costs are nothing ($1.50 -2.50 per cartridge) and then see if you can't fit 2GB of ram in there.

 

[w00t]

i recommend antec's black case i forgot model you know the one with 120mm fan and good psu. another thing is buy it from newegg retail get 3 year warranty and the heatsink and fan is more than efficent.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
how bout switching to a benq dw1640.

Excellent advice.

No reason not to buy the best DVD burner out there, when it costs about the same as the rest of them


Also, you could go with a 17" LCD & an X800XL instead of the 7800GT, & use the money saved to get 2 GB of RAM instead.

1600x1200 or higher = 7800 series.
Anything lower = no real need for 7800 series

If you choose to stick with the CRT, then you can justify the 7800GT

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup
how bout switching to a benq dw1640.

Excellent advice.

No reason not to buy the best DVD burner out there, when it costs about the same as the rest of them


Also, you could go with a 17" LCD & an X800XL instead of the 7800GT, & use the money saved to get 2 GB of RAM instead.

1600x1200 or higher = 7800 series.
Anything lower = no real need for 7800 series

If you choose to stick with the CRT, then you can justify the 7800GT

Good info, I'll consider the BenQ.

 

[imported_Frallan]

Ure getting a SLI MoBo if SLI is ni the future Id beef that PSU up a bit.

 

[GamerExpress]

Wow...good job, usually I see some pretty bad builds on here, but for that budget amount you seem to be right on for the most part.

 

[Lyfer]

Originally posted by: shoRunner
i'd also go with the benq, read anandtech's recent review, and i'd go with a cannon ip4000, then u can print photo's also and ink costs are nothing ($1.50 -2.50 per cartridge) and then see if you can't fit 2GB of ram in there.

Wow, just read the reviews on the Cannon IP4000, it's network ready out of the box and cannon OEM carts are only $9 from newegg (I'm thinkin about getting one for myself now). One question, can I print out b/w documents without having color carts installed? (my epson is lame like that, no b/w if you run out of color, WTF)